SCENARIO 8:2
CO-BUYER GROUPS
Students strengthen their position in the market by cooperating This scenario shows how students can shift their position in the market by cooperating. Some students may be experts on computers, some may be great negotiators and some may be good at keeping their cool. These could cooperate in producing the best possible bids, also utilizing a number of more passive students to gain buying power. These things are already taking place. One of the authors took part in such a process twenty years ago when fifteen university students purchased CD-players in this fashion. Now with online communities, the possibility of organizing such “co-buyer groups” is much greater. What does the e-Me bring to the table then? Several things: The e-Me can find co-buyer groups that are of interest to Nya. The e-Me can monitor the process within several cobuyer groups. Last but not least, the e-Me offers secure and reliable “identification” in the sense that the organizer knows there are real people with real intents in the group. The e-Me infrastructure will support payments making such co-buying and other business easy to establish. In this way, entrepreneurial students can easily start a business without heavy investment. This type of “user designed service” is much liked by the students as it offers a sort of cooperative business model.
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